


Sunshine and Roses (not Lilies)

by Opinion8ted



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Abuse, Angst, Coming of Age, Developing Relationship, F/M, Family Dynamics, Father-Son Relationship, Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Nerdiness, Politics, Pseudoscience, Trauma
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-17
Updated: 2019-06-24
Packaged: 2019-07-13 12:55:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 15,934
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16018355
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Opinion8ted/pseuds/Opinion8ted
Summary: Deep down he’d known what had happened from the second he hears Lily Evan’s name. He remembers singing into her hair and poring over science journals with her. He remembers kissing her long, slow and reverently. He remembers her eyes bright, full of life, now they’re staring out at him in the face of a kid. Apparently she’s dead. Tony doesn’t know what to do with that information.Apparently, he has a Son.Harry Potter finds a diary that his mother kept which contains all sorts of interesting research and tidbits such as Tony Stark is his real father. He doesn't know  much about Tony beyond what Lily wrote but he knows that he can't stay with the Dursleys. Tony Stark is elated at the thought of having a son but family is always complicated especially in the midst of war. This is about how Harry learns to thrive with access to proper care and education and the hard road to recovery that all the Marvel and Harry Potter universe characters have. It's set in the summer pre fifth year and mid homecoming but the avengers don't hate each other. Featuring strong intelligent characters and the adorable dorkiness that is Peter Parker and Harry Potter. Possible other relationships too.





	1. Roses

Tony had a son. A son that was once a bouncy baby boy with ten fingers and ten toes. Except, Tony missed that stage in his son’s life, by a fairly large margin. At fourteen-years-old Harry looks like the spitting image of Tony, at least the photo on the profile Jarvis is compiling does. Tony had only known about him for a total of ten minutes and he already has a comprehensive history. Tony has always had the information he wanted at his fingertips he doesn't know what to do now that he knows he missed something so monumental. 

The kid’s been wandering around this earth for fourteen years. He’s had time to grow and change and live. Time where he either didn’t have a father or had the wrong one. Tony’s had a kid for fourteen, almost fifteen, god, years and he didn’t know. He wonders what he’s like, beyond short, thin and vibrant. He wonders why the kid’s education just stopped at eleven and how he managed to find himself oceans away from his home.

Tony is sitting on a plane back from a function he was attending in South Asia. He wishes he hadn’t had to attend but Pepper had been insisting that the publicity was important and more importantly Peter needed space to be a teenager. Tony wonders if the space was actually helpful considering the kid almost drowned but currently he’s a little preoccupied that there’s a kid waiting for him at Stark Tower.

Whilst he's waiting to get there he has plenty of time to panic.

Tony’s had his fair share of pregnancy scares. People assume he’d be careful but he’s familiar with the dawning dread at the thought of being responsible for a new human.

This human isn’t new. Harry doesn’t come with the wide-eyed curiosity and general awe for life. Tony isn’t going to teach him his ABCs or have time to develop a relationship where he can rely on unconditional love so that later when the moodiness and mistakes come along the kid will still come back to him. The kid isn’t going to learn how to have a relationship with him just by Tony saying the word ‘Dad’ in his general vicinity, Tony is going to have to introduce himself, to navigate the oceans of distance between them.

He isn’t building from the ground up, first he needs to tear down some walls, lay some foundations. That is if the kid even wants to meet him. What the hell is he supposed to do if the kid doesn’t want to meet him. When the genius(semi-functioning) part of his brain begins to kick in he realises this thought is stupid. The kid found him. That’s what Pepper said when she called him at least. He guesses he’ll know if that’s true in about ten minutes. God, he wishes this plane was faster.

When the plane lands Tony is on his feet before it’s come to a stop. He uses his suit to reach the tower as fast as possible.

All Pepper told him was that they received a call from a Harry James Potter who said he found Tony’s picture in Lily Evan’s journal and that this was the number listed. She said it went to his personal number. The one he’d had since his dad first built him a phone and hadn’t changed since.  The one he’d worked tirelessly to keep hidden and only told a handful of his most trusted. He left it with Pepper because he trusted her more than anyone in the world. He kept every model of phone that had that number and he didn’t want to lose this one in a fight.

When he received the call he had wanted to pretend that it was just some kid with his photo. There are so many kids with his photo it would've been of little consequence but deep down he’d known what had happened from the second he heard Lily Evan’s name.

He remembers her so clearly. Remembers singing into her hair and poring over science journals with her. He remembers kissing her long, slow and reverently. He remembers her eyes bright, full of life, now they’re in a picture, staring out at him in the face of a kid. Apparently, she’s dead. Tony doesn’t know what to do with that information.

The minutes it takes to reach the tower from the runway feels like hours.

He’s in the process of moving from Stark tower to the Avengers compound. Stark tower is mostly bare but he’s kept an assistant manning the front desk for public appearances. He’s also left his lab and his computer until last. He’s having trouble letting go of this tower. Letting go of the memories and the ties to this city. He’s glad that there is also a boardroom still set up, he doesn’t know why it’s still there but Pepper probably had a reason. Meeting Tony’s fourteen year old kid probably hadn’t been it.

When Tony enters the room where the kid, Harry, is waiting, he immediately gleans some more information he doesn’t know what to do with. At 14 years old Tony was running up the walls driving his father insane with his energy. This kid held himself taut and stiff as if he was bracing himself for something.

On the phone, Pepper had said she wanted Lawyers and paternity tests, but this kid hasn’t said Tony’s his father. He hasn’t asked for money. Hasn’t asked for anything. He just wants to talk. Tony thinks he can do that.

He sits down across from the kid and they stare at each other for a second, at a loss.  It feels awfully impersonal sitting across from him at a boardroom table, it highlights the distance between them, but this is the room they have.

The kid is clutching a leather-bound journal intricately embossed with flowers, roses not lilies. Tony remembers it well. Lily would scribble in it at all hours of the night. Entries about her life, about her research ‘top secret’ she’d insisted. He remembered talking about it with her, “I hope you’re not writing about me,” he’d said.’ “All good things,” she’d insisted through a smile before turning and pressing a kiss to his temple. Now that his kid has it he really hopes she’d been telling the truth.  

“Your mother was a brilliant woman you know,” Tony begins, she’s so clearly the reason why they're here, he couldn’t fathom how this conversation could proceed without her.

Harry looks at him uncertainty with those brilliant green eyes, “You knew her well, then?” he asks the question cautiously and it makes Tony wonder what he’s afraid of. 

He knows that Lily wrote about him, how else did the kid find him, and he knows it was frequent because he remembers her casting spells on photos before sticking them in. He thinks that the kid is trying to get a sense of his character, see if he’ll lie.

“Yes,” he says because Lily isn’t, wasn’t, the kind of person you lie about, “I knew her quite well, never as well as I wanted to though.”

He thinks he must’ve said the right thing because Harry instantly straightens, “Do you think you could tell me something about her, anything?”

Immediately a rush of invigorating but terribly inappropriate things enters his mind. He thinks about how it felt to have his hands on her, his lips on her, the curve of her spine. This thought is probably a good indicator of how much he would suck at being a parent, but it doesn’t dampen his desire to be one at all. “She had this one kind of pen that she adored. It was an exorbitantly expensive black pen 0.7mm from Japan and she loved it the way people love their pets, refused to use anything else. She would lose this pen all the time sometimes 4 times in one week, but she’d always insist on buying more and more of this single type of pen. Every gift I ever gave her always had at least one of those in it.”

It had been infuriating, he had even designed her a pen personally and whilst she had been enthusiastic in her gratitude she’d still insisted that she could never betray her pen. Apparently, she’d always used them, her school pig,hog- something had apparently insisted on using quills, but she’d never given in because ‘good stationery is hard to find.’

Harry’s smiling now, just a little. Tony finds himself smiling instantly too. Harry sobers a little and gets a pensive look on his face. “Do you know who I am?” he seems even more frightened of that answer then he did of the last one. Like he could cope with Tony being a terrible person but not with him knowing about Harry and hating him.

“I think I do kid, I mean we might need some tests to make sure, but I think with a face like that and that book it’s pretty clear.’

“I, um, what does that mean?”

Hell if Tony knows, isn’t there supposed to be adults present in this situation. Who's been looking after this kid anyway? “Well if you want to we can do some tests, and I’d love to see you as much as you want.”

The kid swallows heavily like he’s trying to clear his mouth of something awful “Is it okay if I stay here or stay somewhere. Just for the summer?” The kid looks like he’d rather claw his skin off than ask for this, which makes Tony wonder what the alternative is.

“You’re welcome to stay with me, but my house will get a little crowded.”

The kid shrugs as if it means nothing to him and Tony realises he has no idea if this kid even knows who he is. Normally he’d assume but normally people can’t say Tony Stark without immediately following it with Iron Man and aren’t nearly so blasé about sharing a room with the hulk.

“Listen, Pepper Potts will be down in a second and then we’ll sort some things out.”

The kid shrugs again and Tony thinks that maybe this is what Clint was talking about when he said parenting is hard. Maybe he shouldn’t have laughed as hard as he did when Clint complained that his son got suspended for shooting a rock at some asshole kid and yelling  ‘Avengers assemble’ as he was running away from the kid and his two 6ft tall friends.

He greets Pepper at the door and they have a brief whisper conversation. Pepper, bless her soul, doesn’t judge him nearly as harshly as he thinks she should. She just says “We’ll do the tests, Tony, they’re important, and you have to look after him, this isn’t like Peter you can’t hand him back to other adults if things get rough, this is full time.” He can appreciate that, but some raggedy ass kid came to him with too big clothes, Lily’s eyes and a bad attitude, Tony doesn’t think he can do anything but love him.

Technically you’re supposed to wait 1-2 business days for a paternity test but for a genius with more money then he knows what to do with it doesn’t take very long at all. He’s friends with Bruce who is technically a physicist but he’s been more gene orientated for personal reasons. His lab is set up with ridiculous equipment that Bruce had taught him how to use. Also Helen Cho, man. Nobody could really beat her, scarily efficient but with very little patience for Tony. Thankfully Bruce inspired more patience. Go figure. Tony is just glad that they found Bruce before he could get too far away in the quinjet or else he might actually have to wait for something. 

He takes Harry up to the lab and Harry watches avidly as he sets up before seemingly losing interest. The process is longish but Harry seems content to just wander the lab he hopes the kid is impressed not bored but there isn’t much he can do. Pepper organises a flight to the Avengers compound whilst they wait.  The tests come back and confirm what Tony already knows and suddenly his little circle has an extra member for the summer. 

According to Pepper they should contact the relatives but Tony suspects if the kid made it all the way to America without any kind of police complaint, Tony maybe did something a little illegal to find out that information, then the parents are probably a lot like Howard and it might take them a little while to get over the relief of not having responsibility to remember that they love Harry.  He hopes it’s that, that these people are ill-equipped to be parents and not something more sinister.

Harry doesn’t say much on the plane ride to the Avengers compound. They make their way up into the building, Tony thinks the kid might be in shock. He grips Lily’s book like it’s a lifeboat keeping him afloat.  The team is out today and so the tower is unnaturally quiet. The kid seems cautiously enamoured. He eyes everything for only a second, but he seems solely engaged with taking in the environment. Tony wonders what’s going on in his head.

\----

Harry settles down in the room that Pepper leads him to.

The room is nice. Like really nice. Harry almost melts onto the bed it’s so soft. Except he kind of hates the neutral tones and the bare desk. The dull grays make him miss the burrow. Harry likes the window best, it's the only thing about the place that really has character.   The view was good, breathtaking really, though not nearly as magical as Hogwarts. There is lush green grass punctuated by training equipment. Dusk is falling and the casts the compound in a pale pink glow.

The room is on one of the higher floors, the elevator up had been painfully awkward Pepper and him had been alone and she opened her mouth like ten times to say something but never quite got the words out. Tony apparently has things to deal with and Pepper has to take a call as soon as Harry gets to the room which is fine. Harry just makes no noise and pretends he doesn’t exist. He won’t wear out his welcome and he won’t take more than his share. Everything will be easier here.

Hermione won’t need to respond to his endless questions whilst she’s in France, Ron won’t have to rescue him and get Arthur in trouble. The order members won’t have to worry about him because MACUSA has offered him sanctuary for the summer he plans to spend here. They even arranged a portkey. All Harry needs to do is turn up to a few meetings and Have a few discussions with the president. Samuel G. Quahog had said in exchange for information and a few quidditch orientated publicity stunts America would be willing to provide protection. He even agreed to allow Harry to attend a few classes that Ilvermorny over the Summer, apparently, they’re available to any and all young keen wizards who are restricted from practising magic because of no-maj separation.

Harry was a little bit wary of the information part of the deal. He wouldn’t sell out his friends but quidditch he could do.

He glances at the journal in his hand and tries to remember why he’s here

Hermione had been teaching him science and math diligently since he first showed interest at beginning of third year. He had found his mother’s journal the summer before and there had been complex algorithms and formulas that just looked like scribble to Harry. It was the only connection that Harry had to his mother and the only thing that alleviated the fragility he felt after being bombarded with his mother’s dying screams. 

He needed his mother’s journal to make sense. He needed to understand what drove her to pursue the man that gave him his skin colour and cheek structure. She talked about science the way somebody might talk about a lover, waxed poems about every new discovery she made, about how much it meant to her that she could share them with somebody. She talked about life like it was this wonderful thing. Harry didn’t understand but he wanted to, desperately.

Asking Hermione to help him without giving away too much had been hard. She had always been perceptive, except, he realised, when distracted by the allure of knowledge. Instead of asking her to teach him science he was loud in his ignorance and she quickly set to remedy him of it. Of course, she became suspicious when he actually borrowed the books she recommended but by then it was easy enough to convince her that she sold him on the idea. It felt a lot like the way Malfoy tried to endear himself to the teachers but Hermione had been happy, and she’d deserved to be happy so Harry figured no harm no foul.

It turns out that his mother wasn’t insane, there was a thrill in just knowing something, more than that in using the things you know to achieve a goal. Admittedly attempting to learn chemistry and physics and biochemistry whilst trying to keep up with his studies was hard and extremely frustrating at times especially when Hermione didn’t have time to be his full-time teacher as well as keep up with her studies but it was a brilliant kind of frustrating. Harry wasn’t used to learning without consequence until he met Hermione.

He wishes she was here. She was the only person that would ever explain things to Harry and make them make sense. The teachers were patient with the muggleborns because they felt like they were justified and even some of the purebloods because they knew how to ask for help.

Harry didn’t know how to ask for help, even when it was offered to him he didn’t really know how to take it.

He wishes that Hermione were here to explain how muggles have buildings this tall. He wishes Hermione was there when Tony took him to his lab stuck something in Harry’s cheek and proceeded to fiddle for a while before, seemingly by magic, determining Harry was his son. I mean Harry knows science occurred but the intricacies are so lost on him. He understood genes a little bit but not to this extent.

Also how stinking rich is this guy? Petunia’s friends fall all over each other when one of them go on a plane but this guy has his-, Pepper, Harry doesn’t know her title, organise one like its nothing. Also, why does anyone needs a building with so many rooms let alone two buildings.

He wishes Hermione was here to explain to him why he’s so afraid when Tony isn’t nearly as powerful as Voldemort.

He wishes there was somebody here telling him what to do. He supposes he could have asked Sirius but in his last letter Harry could see the crossed out letters JA and well Sirius was James’ friend what if that means-, Harry can’t even finish the thought. It’s scarier than Cedric Diggory’s face frozen in agony.

He hopes these people will be kind, it's only for the summer and it's only because Harry thought he might do something stupid if left in isolation. He needs to be strong, there’s going to be a war, he doesn't know how to be strong alone with his thoughts, alone with his ghosts.

He really hopes these people are nice. Harry get the vibe that there are going to be so many people here and Harry doesn’t know if he’ll be able to handle feeling alone in another big building filled with people that were supposed to be something more.

It sounds like Tony really loved his mother, Harry hopes that’s a good sign. Maybe he might even be able to explain the complicated numbers in her journal. Harry isn’t ready to share it just yet but maybe. Mrs. Potts seems nice if a little bit intimidating. She shows Harry his room, has hushed whisper fights with Tony and brings him a shirt that is only one size too big.

Harry hopes Tony isn’t in too much trouble because of him. Harry won’t be a problem he’ll cook and clean and at least when he’s here there’s an ocean between him and Voldemort. He won’t bring them trouble he’ll be good and useful and none of the horrible things that Snape and Petunia believe about him. He’ll be better.

He doesn’t say any of these things because words don’t really mean much instead he stays alert, tries to figure out what these people want. He thinks he’ll only ever be lucky enough to meet a family like the Weasleys once confusingly seem to want nothing in return for all that they offer him, he won’t be naïve to expect that here, especially in a home that seems fit for muggle royalty, he wonders if that’s what Tony is, if he’ll expect Harry to behave like the Malfoys.

Tony comes and brings him some clothes. Some blue jeans made of what Harry assumes is supposed to be tight fitting material that hangs loosely around ankles. The top is also loose on him but it’s much nicer than Harry is used to and not too big. When Harry says nicer he means without holes and not spectacularly dull, the top has a pizza on it. Harry wonders why Tony randomly has a teenaged size top but whatever.

There’s the ding of an elevator and a loud voice that comes from seemingly nowhere announces the arrival of ‘the team,’ Tony apologises before exiting quickly. Harry watches cautiously half hidden behind his door as some of the most intimidating people he’s ever seen spill out of a glass elevator. He can’t make out much detail beyond well built and bleeding but Harry identifies them as soldiers because it’s written in the way they hold themselves. They all head into what seems like a break room with Tony and Pepper following behind.

Another thing that Harry finds mystifying is elevators. These people levitate without magic although Hermione says muggles believe that magic is just science that hasn’t been discovered yet. He wonders how science would explain the way Quirrell’s skin burned under his skin or the way Voldemort had endured where Quirrell didn’t.

Pepper comes in again a few minutes after. “I know this all must be a lot for you right now, and I’m really sorry that Tony isn’t here right now, work can be hard to balance even if the whole world isn’t relying on you,”

For a second it sounds like she’s attacking him personally, but then he remembers that MACUSA told him about Tony. Not because Harry disclosed the relationship, but because apparently the Avengers are an important group to be aware of because they’ve had interactions with other forms of magic that make it dangerous for wizards. Harry had almost been hoping that that meant he didn’t have to hide his magic, but apparently whilst they’re aware of Norse mythology wizards have managed to maintain relative confidentiality.

He also remembers that Dudley had mentioned the heroes a few times when he was very young. Dudley gave up on them around the same time he started closing doors on Harry’s fingers.

“It’s getting late,” Pepper continues, “so maybe if you want you can wash up in the adjoining bathroom and head to bed and we’ll introduce you to everyone properly in the morning, get you properly settled.” She pauses for a moment seemingly finished before she backtracks “That is if that’s okay with you. We don’t plan to enforce a bedtime on you or anything, and oh my gosh we’ve forgotten to feed you, are you hungry, is there something you want me to get you?

Pepper Potts can’t seem to decide if she wants to be intimidatingly efficient or all over the place. He thinks she’d get along with Hermione

Harry resists the temptation to start scratching at his hands, according to Hermione it isn’t very healthy behaviour and Harry doesn’t want to display any obvious signs of discomfort. He is hungry, but doesn’t want to ask for food, not before he knows what it means here. Instead, he shakes his head and remembers his manners. “No thank you, I think bed sounds good.’

Pepper’s expression turn speculative but she doesn’t push. “Okay then, have a good night, Harry, and don’t worry about getting up if you need anything I’m sure Tony wants you to treat this as your home. Also if you want something and don’t know how to get it Jarvis will help you, have you met Jarvis?”

“No, he hasn’t ma’am,” volunteers the mysterious voice, presumably Jarvis. The voice makes him on edge because it sounds like it thinks, and Arthur Weasley has told him never to trust an object that thinks if you can’t see where its brain goes. Harry wonders what he would say about something that you can’t even see full stop.

He wonders if this is something rooted in science or something rooted in the supposed almost magic that the Avengers are supposed to have come across.

His discomfort must show because Pepper smiles softly. “don’t mind him he’s just a computer,” science, Harry’s mind supplies, “Tony designed him so he’s pretty advanced but he’s just here to help you.”

Harry wonders who exactly this computer is supposed to help, if maybe this computer is designed to make sure Harry is being useful.

“Good evening master Harry, my deepest regrets at your newly discovered parentage,” the computer said. Pepper laughs softly at this, “It’s a pleasure to meet

“Uh, Ditto.’ Harry was at a loss at how to reply. He supposes it’s a good sign that this computer doesn’t sound like Tom maybe Arthur would forgive him for trusting him.

Pepper laughs lightly, “I’ll leave you boys to get acquainted. Good night Harry.” She smiles at Harry the same way McGonagall smiles at him sometimes, with a sort of reserved fondness. 

“Good night.” He whispers to her retreating figure, but he doesn’t think she heard.

\---

Tony doesn’t really know what to say to the team when they come back looking wrung out. He knows the feeling knows they probably don’t want to be bothered with new information, but they’re trained for war. They deserve to know there is another person staying in the tower, he owes them that much.

He doesn’t start with ‘I have a kid’ though because he isn’t ready to let judgement ruin the joy he’s feeling right now. Tomorrow Tony has a whole person he gets to discover and learn about. He hopes Harry’s interested in science the way Lily was. He hopes he can share his science with someone the way he has always wanted to. Tony wonders if he has Lily’s otherworldly gifts if he’ll continue her research.

All that to look forward to tomorrow. Today he quietly pulls Steve aside, “Listen, I’m letting somebody stay on this floor of the tower, he’s a kid about a year younger than Peter and he really needed a place to stay.  He’s staying near my room and if you aren’t comfortable you guys can either stay on another floor or we can block off a part but I trust him.”

\---

Steve is at a loss. The team had only just got back from a government-mandated task designed to ‘repair their image’. Tony was supposed to be here finishing Hawkeye’s new arrows and smoothing over some legalities with Pepper and yet apparently, he found time to adopt a fourteen-year-old.

He can’t really be mad though. Tony and Steve had been mad at each other for a long time and were only just starting to realise that maybe the problem wasn’t each other but the nature of the world they live in. Also adopting a fourteen-year-old is exactly the kind of shit Steve probably would get up to if left to his own devices. So instead he informs the team that there is a kid wandering about the building and the team is too tired to care beyond a ‘no you’re not allowed to freaking shoot him.”

He finds it peculiar how white Tony goes when Natasha suggests this, he thought they had all been desensitized to casual threats of violence, but more and more Steve is realising that when it comes to kids Tony is a little on the protective side.  

Tony and he never disagreed that collateral damage was bad they just had different methods of dealing with it. In hindsight maybe neither of them were right but they need to learn to work together now that chitauri technology is proliferating the streets. Steve doesn’t know if Tony establishing the D.O.D.C. is a good thing or a bad thing but it’s probably better than allowing the chitauri technology to circulate unregulated. He just hopes that when the time comes that the country needs the Avengers they won’t be cut off at the legs.

He wonders what this new kid will be like. Why he’s here, why he needs sanctuary. More immediately he wonders if he can get through a shower without falling asleep.

\---

Tony thinks the team takes the news well, barring vaguely terrifying threats. Overall Tony is hopeful about the future. He just wishes that the political climate wasn’t so toxic now, that he could offer the kid safety. Maybe the responsible thing would be to give him to Clint’s wife and allow him to live on the farm but selfishly Tony just wants to know him. These are all problems to deal with in the morning.

For now, Tony goes to bed comfortable that despite the fact he doesn’t really know much about kids, he hopes this one isn’t quite as reckless as Peter and has better sense than Clint’s rascals, but none of it matters much because this one is his. His and Lily’s.

  
  



	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys. Thank you for all the amazing feedback on the first chapter it really helped make me excited to write this. I got some really good tips for improvement, so I updated the last chapter. Thank you to beee for sending me the links to the websites with the timeline I spent a little while trying to figure out where the story was set after checking that out.  
> Just a heads up I shifted it a little so its about a day after the incident in the lake(which according to the wiki happened on the 9th) which gives it about 3 days before they go to capital(happens on 13th). Also in the interest of plot conveniences I’m having it that Hogwarts runs on different school terms. I know its not actually like that but fanfiction Also heads up I’m not from the north so I struggle getting the seasons right in my head let alone the school terms so there probably won’t be a whole lot of accuracy there.  
> A MASSIVE MASSIVE THANK YOU TO Roserayrose, who agreed to beta my story. She’s honestly fabulous she helped so much in fixing up the first chapter,(I suggest checking out the changes if you get the chance) and this chapter aswell . She also gave me some really good ideas for the rest of the story bless her wonderful soul. Also shout out to VannahSkye who left me the nicest comments in the world. There are so many other lovelies I’d like to thank but this comment is already kind of massive so just thank you to everyone who commented!  
> Also sorry for the wait I've been having lots of trouble posting

Harry wakes up the next morning after a blessedly nightmare-free sleep. A lot of people complain that new places make nightmares worse, but Harry always finds the opposite is true. He thinks it’s due to not associating new places with anything. At the Dursley’s, the association of pain is clear in his bloodstained sheets. At Hogwarts, the association is less distinct because it looks and feels like home, but home is a complicated word for Harry. He doesn’t have any clothes to change into, barring Dudley’s hand me downs, so he showers and uses the deodorant he has stashed in the backpack Hermione cast an extension charm on for him.

He wonders what the day will bring.

He’d forgotten to close the curtains last night but it's early so there’s only the barest hint of light. He flicks on the simple desk lamp and lays his mother’s journal in front of him. He looks at the sun and remembers one of the stories in the journal that he loves. It’s about his father, James that is, and their friends. Most of her stories are very long but this one is short and the page has become worn because Harry reads it so religiously.

“I think I’ve finally found a family within these walls. One that consists entirely of stupid boys who with brilliant intelligence.

Some of the girls in my year find the way I lay across them in the sun obscene but it’s a closeness we worked hard for. It’s something I cherish and will never apologize for.

Somehow, I always end up gravitating towards James, which is lovely because he’s awfully comfortable, but these gatherings usually begin with my head on Sirius’ shoulder and my legs curled with Peter whilst Remus and James rant passionately about something ridiculous.

Today they argued about how inconvenient it is that they can’t conjure doughnuts. Personally, I think Remus made a good point that it’s stupid that magic is inconsistently helpful. Magic can be very nonsensical, as soon as I think something makes sense I find myself infinitely confused a second later. It’s the best kind of frustrating.”

I hope that no matter what comes my family will always find time to lay together in the sun.”

It’s dated for 1997 which means Harry’s mother would have been in 6th year. This blows Harry’s mind, to see what his mum was like when she was so close to Harry’s age, but the story is one of Harry’s favourites and it was something that really helped him get through fourth year.

Once Ron had finally got over himself Harry had dragged him and Hermione out and they had laid together in the sun. He had felt infinitely closer to his mother and his friends in that moment.

He thinks of it every sunrise. He’s glad that he thought of it today. It’s something familiar in this strange new land.

So much of her journal doesn’t make sense, the stories that do are what keep him going.

There’s one section is written almost exclusively in runes. Harry had swapped to ancient runes at the beginning of third year. Hermione’s smugness had nearly deterred Harry from pursuing the subject. He didn’t think anybody deserved to be smug about his decisions. However, in her next breath Hermione raved about how excited she was to be able to share the class with somebody and Harry remembered that he was lucky to have Hermione, that he wouldn’t let insecurity make him cruel. It was something his mother had believed in strongly, to never allow her faults to make her cruel.

Despite taking Runes for two years, Harry understands very little of the runes. The problem with runes is that an individual can manipulate them in diverse ways. Sometimes he recognized the root runes but couldn’t tell what the inversion meant. There is one passage in his mother’s journal underlined in red that he is particularly interested in. There are a lot of runes in the passage but he only recognized eihwaz to mean defence, beyond that it was a mystery to him the same way science papers often were. There are so many things that he wanted to understand, and it was taking a frustratingly long time for him to put the pieces together. He wishes he went to muggle school, or that he a had a teacher beyond Hogwarts like Hermione whose parents teach her about science. Although, he’s not sure how much of it is useful since Harry struggles to believe knowing the name of every bone in the body is helpful.

To distract himself from what he can’t understand Harry focuses on what he can. Most of his mum’s stories were written in English, and the ones written in Italian are okay because Italian’s a lot easier to translate than runes. Unfortunately, runes aren’t an option on google translate. Not that google translate would help since Petunia never bought him a phone but at least he can go to the library to translate Italian.

 Petunia would never tell anybody this, but she was born in Italy. It was why both she and her mum were so pale it was almost unnatural. Petunia never left the house without make-up for fear that people would find her sickly. Petunia never taught Harry Italian and he wonders if Petunia even could speak it, he wonders how anybody could ever give that up.

“Is Master Harry distressed?” asked the odd disembodied voice of Jarvis.

Harry doesn’t know how to feel about the computer. He wonders if after what happened in the second year he should be afraid. Somehow the intangibility of this computer seemed less scary than a diary. Harry supposes the diary had also been unassuming at first, but maybe it was for the best that Harry hadn’t been deterred by it. If Harry hadn’t engaged with Tom, maybe somebody else would have and done something worse. Harry’s never really known how to do anything but face something head on so that’s what he does.

“No, Jarvis. Good morning, Jarvis.” Harry says in a singsong voice, last night he learned that the best way to engage with the computer is to match its annoyingness.

“Good morning Master Harry, did you sleep well?” Jarvis responds blithely.

Harry actually had slept surprisingly well. He thinks if nothing else good comes from his stay here he’ll at least get the best sleep of his life. “Yes, thank you, Jarvis, I’d ask you the same but...”

“The question would be redundant as I am a computer. Master Tony wishes to inform you that breakfast is ready in the kitchen, should you be ready.”

Harry wonders what Hermione would think if he told her that the in-house computer was giving him attitude. She might start a computer activist club with an even worse acronym than S.P.E.W.

Harry has no idea where the kitchen is, hell it would be plausible that there would be more than one kitchen. He doesn’t appreciate vague instructions, if somebody wants him to do something clarity is important.

Apparently, Jarvis really does have some intelligence because in the next breath (do computers breath?) , he says, “Go out the door and turn right, it’s the archway at the end of the corridor.”

“Thank you, Jarvis.”

Harry, suddenly nervous, begins to fidget. He smooths out his hair as much as it allows him to then proceeds to; put on more deodorant, brush his teeth and pulls a thin hoodie he found in the cupboard last night tightly around himself, clutching it to his chest before following Jarvis’ instruction. He feels uncomfortably vulnerable as he’s about to plunge into the unknown.

He thankfully doesn’t get lost on the short walk to the kitchen, that would have been supremely embarrassing. The first thing he sees in the dining room table. It’s situated in the centre of the room and almost acts like a divider between the kitchen and a couch area. Tony and Pepper are sitting at the chairs pulled close with their heads curled together and whispering lightly.

On Harry’s left is the kitchen, it's brightly coloured, with reds contrasting starkly with whites. There are eggs on toast waiting on a counter near the stove, Harry gets a whiff and promptly realises he is very hungry. There’s a blonde guy leaning against one of the counters with a coffee in hand and Harry’s immediate thought is that there’s an obstacle between him and his food.

The blonde guy smiles tightly when he sees Harry and sets his coffee cup onto the bench. “Hey, kid,“ he begins, turning to face Harry, “I’m Steve Rogers, it’s nice to meet you.”

He offers up his hand and Harry almost flinches, this guy looks like he could break his hand in about two seconds without thinking, but Harry takes the hand. “Uh, Harry Potter, nice to meet you too, Sir.”

Pepper and Tony are looking up at them now. Pepper is grinning. “He’s got manners Tony, are you sure he’s yours?”

The blonde guy, Steve, startles at this. “Yours?” he asks, eyes narrowing at Tony.

Tony ducks his head a little and glares lightly at Pepper who shrugs unapologetically.

Tony stands and makes his way over to the kitchen before saying, “Well I was going to wait until everyone was together, and after I had discussed this with Harry.“ At this Pepper does actually looks a little guilty. Tony continues: ”But I guess there no harm in telling you first.” He smiles a little wanly at Harry. “Steve, meet Harry Potter, my son.”

Steve does a very comical double take and Harry thinks that if Steve had still been drinking coffee Harry would be wearing it by now.

Then some dude jumps down from the fricken ceiling and snorts loudly, nearly giving Harry a heart attack. He’s learning to watch other people for cues so, when nobody else reacts he swallows his panic.

 “Who thought it was a good idea to let Stark reproduce?” the guy quips before turning adding semi-apologetically, “Sorry kid not your fault you're saddled with this guy.” The guy has an odd energy about him. Like he can’t settle.

Steve looks as if he’s at as much of a loss as Harry is.

Thankfully, Pepper steps in. “Barton, quit being an asshole. Harry this is Clint Barton also known as Hawkeye, Barton this is Harry play nice.”

Harry is starting to wonder if these people would spontaneously combust if they said something nice to each other.

Barton rolls his eyes before speculatively looking between Harry and Pepper as if searching for similarities. “He yours?“ he asks Pepper.

Pepper smiles softly at Harry and makes an aborted motion to run her finger through his hair. Harry ducks away on instinct but when her fingers pull away he wishes he hadn't. He’s been a bit starved for human contact lately and Pepper reminds him a little of Mrs. Weasley and Professor McGonagall in the way most kind but vaguely authoritative woman do.

“No, Clint and before you say anything, Harry is fourteen so Tony doesn’t owe anyone an explanation.”

“Fourteen?” Clint asks, then he whispers, louder than he probably was aiming for considering Harry hears the conversation loud and clear, “He looks like he would only be a couple years older than my eleven year old. How did Stark get a kid that small?”

Pepper just shakes her head.

Harry desperately wishes that people wouldn’t pay so much attention to his size. It makes him feel over-exposed and out of place. It’s not his fault that he’s this way but he doesn’t have another excuse he’s willing to give.

Tony, who had been having a discussion with Steve, clears his throat, “Anyways he’s with us until his school term starts in a few months, please try not to scare him off.”

Steve looks a little stricken. “A few months but Tony that’s-“

Tony’s expression turns stony. “We’ll discuss it later,”

Steve tenses before visibly swallowing his protests. He turns to Harry, “So kid,” Harry resists the petulant urge to insist he’s not a kid, recognising how juvenile it sounds, “where are you from? Somewhere in England, I’d guess, from that accent.”

Give the guy a prize he knows what an English accent is. It takes Harry a lot of effort to bite down the instinctual sarcasm that almost bubbles up. Instead, he manages a pleasant “Yeah, but I go to an international boarding school in Scotland.”

Clint eyes him, “Sounds fancy.”

Harry wonders if this guy is aware that he literally lives in a high-tech facility designed specifically for him and his friends. He also wonders what kind of hypocrisy it would inspire if he told Clint his school was a castle. The Dursleys have taught him that being caustic very rarely leads to a happy ending so instead, he gives a half-truth, “The grounds are nice, but the education is a little sporadic. I mostly go there because my par-” Merlin his parentage situation is so complicated-,” mother went there.”

Clint eyes Tony a little. “So your mother’s Scottish then?”

Harry inhales sharply. “No, she was British.”

Nobody in the room misses the significance of the past tense and that line of questioning is viciously shut down.

\---

Tony aches at the mention of Lily. He hates the way Harry suddenly seems heavier just by contemplating her.

The tension in the room is suffocating for just a second before Natasha arrives. She obliviously punctures the tension with a sleepy “Morning,” and a stifled yawn, “What’s got everyone here so excited?”

Clint grins wolfishly at this. “Tony’s narcissism has finally spiralled completely out of control and we now have Stark mini,” he proclaims gleefully while motioning to Harry.

Harry winces a little; it seems regardless of his parentage somebody is always going to hate him for his father.

Tony bristles a little at this but doesn’t really know what to say in his defence. Natasha squints sleepily at Harry before turning and giving Tony a furtive look.

“Why’s he so skinny?” Natasha asks with extreme disinterest as she grabs some of the food left out on the bench.

Clint loses his shit at this and it makes Tony mad in a way that’s probably not conducive to team spirit Harry grabs his wrists self consciously and Tony really wants to beat the shit out of Clint right then and there. He almost does but too many people would yell at him.

He can’t take much more of this so he decides reinforcements might be good. That is if they’re feeling agreeable this morning, superhumans can be unpredictable. Sighing heavily, Tony says, ”Jarvis, please call everybody to the kitchen, it’s time for some introductions.”

He’s glad that the team stayed together. He was a little worried that after spending so much time working on this massive facility there would be nobody to fill up the rooms. He worried that he and Steve’s fight had destroyed more than his arc reactor, but the Avengers were more than an initiative and they wouldn’t be so easily separated. Breaking the team out of the Raft had solidified that for Tony.

It was clear that whatever may come they were better off together than separated. Tony would do his best not to lose sight of that again.

Gradually, the team begins to spill into the room.

Tony refrains from commenting when Vision and Wanda are the first to arrive, although he really wishes that Wanda didn’t insist on hanging off vision’s arm 24/7. It’s always kind of confronting for Tony to see Vision. It was kind of weird recreating Jarvis when the physical embodiment of him was running around wooing the Scarlet Witch. However, whilst trying to create a new AI Tony discovered he wasn’t quite ready to let go of Jarvis, not yet at least. Vision always gets a constipated look whenever Jarvis talks but there isn’t much to be said on the matter.

Following them is Thor, Bruce, Rhodey and Sam. They’re all in varying degrees of consciousness. Rhodey is predictably wide-awake, Tony thinks it’s disgusting how well he fills out the military cliché, Bruce is dead on his feet, worryingly he’s like that a lot since what has become unaffectionately known as the Ultron incident among the team. He’s lethargic and disjointed and Nat seems perpetually distressed whenever he’s in the room. Tony isn’t sure how to help him, he wishes he could but he’s at a loss.

When they’re all together like this the fractures in the dynamic are glaring but Tony can’t focus on it right now. That’s not what they’re here for.

Everybody seems to come to the realisation that they’re here for the kid at the same time. All eyes are on Harry and Tony can see the kid shifting uncomfortably under the scrutiny. The kid’s making Tony nervous with his shifting.

Tony figures it’s best to just keep ploughing ahead. He takes a deep breath to prepare himself before ripping off the band-aid. “So, this is Harry.” Here, Harry gives a little wave paired with a nervous smile, keeping with the pattern of being unfailingly polite (Jesus, how is this kid his?). “He’s my son and he’ll be staying with us until his school starts up.” Tony should probably offer up a bit more context on what brought Harry here, but beyond Lily’s diary, he’s not really clear on the circumstances himself.

Everything is quiet for a few weighted seconds, well Nat is munching on an apple, but nobody really pays her any mind. Pepper has slipped her hand into Tony’s and he’s reminded of all the ways he’s so lucky to have met her.

Then everybody’s eyes slip comically to Pepper. Clint pisses himself whilst Pepper raises an unimpressed eyebrow. “Fourteen years ago, I was Tony’s PA.” She pauses to look at everybody meaningfully here. “The kid isn’t mine.’

Tony turns to smile at her apologetically, but she’s got a hardness in her eyes that tells him she doesn’t need his platitudes.

Everybody abruptly goes back to staring at Harry. Tony didn’t really expect much better than this, but it really drives home how little tact the team has. It’s probably part of the reason they stay together, nobody else can tolerate them but they’re all as bad as each other.

Wanda is giving Harry shifty eyes. Tony wonders if she can feel the magic in him or something. Tony likes to pretend to be in the loop about all this magic business but really, he’s probably more lost than most people when it some to the arbitrary laws of magic so he can’t say anything for certain.

“Good morning, tin man’s son,” Thor greets heartily before going straight for the food.

Bruce comes over and pulls Tony aside whilst everybody makes their introduction before quietly whispering, “Is he Lily’s?”

Tony blanches a bit at how quickly Bruce put that together. A lot of Tony’s research has been based on Lily’s, so he couldn’t not tell Bruce about her but he didn’t think he’d been so transparent. Even half destroyed Bruce is still quick as a whip.

Tony swallows a little before nodding. Bruce goes a little solemn then, “We’ll look after him Tony, don’t worry.” Then he squeezes Tony’s shoulder before meandering over to the food.

When Tony gets over his shock and the uncomfortable swell of feelings Bruce dredged up, he turns to Harry just in time to witness Harry shaking Wanda’s hand hesitantly. She must be doing something right because there’s a hint of a smile on his face. Tony finds himself smiling despite himself, glad that things are going smoothly. He didn’t think the team would be malicious towards Harry but he had been worried it would all be a little overwhelming.

They decide to be a little less savage than usual and sit around the table to eat. Harry sits next to Tony and Wanda plants herself firmly on Harry’s side. She clearly sees something in the kid, and Tony thinks it's fairly likely it’s the whole magic thing.

Tony finds Harry watching everybody with wide eyes. He turns to Tony and whispers “Thor like the god?” with no small amount of awe. Tony can’t fathom how this kid hasn’t heard of them, considering the amount of shit they’ve been up to, but he’s a little relieved that for once he gets to tell his story. Maybe he’ll get Peter to help, the kid seems to like Tony, god knows why.

Well, maybe not right now since currently the relationship with Peter is a little tenuous. God, he was a little harsh on the kid, he should probably call or something.

“Yeah kid,” Tony laughs, “Like the god, don’t be too impressed though, Wanda here probably packs more of a punch than Thor.”

Harry turns to his left and eyes Wanda speculatively before asking, “Are you a god too?”

Wanda laughs bright and clear. “Nah kid, although I think I’d make a good one. I’m a witch.”

Harry blanches comically at this and if Wanda didn’t know he was magic before she must definitely know now. This kid seems spectacularly bad at hiding things, which is probably good for Tony, although he should probably wait to reveal this to the kid, considering Lily used to make a big deal about how magic was supposed to be a secret.

Harry attempts to school his features, but he seems to be having a hard time assimilating this new information. “Erm, witch as in wand waving and potion making?”

Wanda looks at Harry weirdly, “Is there no internet in Britain? I’m sure there are at least a few memes circling about me.”

Harry shrugs a little at this before offering by way of explanation, “My relatives are a little strict about that kind of stuff.”

Wanda nods in understanding, “My parents were strict too.’ She brightens as she talks, “When we were little my brother and I used to drive them insane by breaking basically every rule they ever set.” Wanda goes a little misty-eyed at this, looking simultaneously blissful and devastated. Tony winces and the literal riptide of guilt he has balled in his stomach clenches a little tighter.

Wanda’s face eventually clears, “Anyways you’re in a room full of superhumans, we can remedy you information deficiency. Seems like a waste not to put on a show.”

Pepper rolls her eyes, “Please try not to break anything, I only just replaced the TV from the last time you guys had a pissing contest.”

That night had been fun. They’d all got drunk and Thor, Wanda and Tony had provided a light show whilst Clint and Natasha played pin the tail on the donkey on steroids. Admittedly it was a little ridiculous how much they trashed the facility the first night it was built but it had helped build bridges, so Tony doesn’t have regrets. Also, Pepper is so full of shit since she was the one that punched the TV when Nat was trying to teach her how to fight.

Clint is a little uncomfortable with Wanda’s magic. There’s a little bit of awkward trauma there. He’s slowly getting used to her but for now, he slips out of the room quietly and probably won’t be back for a little while. He isn’t at the facility as much as everyone else because he spends the majority of his time with his family at the Cottage. Sometimes Tony can feel the distance between Clint and the team. As much as Tony dislikes Clint he does kind of wish everyone was in the one place a bit more. It can’t be helped though, family comes first so nobody comments when he comes and goes as he pleases. He can tell that Nat, misses his presence though, she always seems lighter when he’s here. Sometimes she does with him, sometimes they all go with him. They’re becoming a little disgustingly co-dependent.

Thor and Steve are moving the couches together. Tony recognises this as ridiculous, this is a training facility with multiple rooms specifically designed for practising magic, but he can’t really talk about ridiculous decision making. He thinks the ridiculousness probably makes it more fun.

Harry probably is a little bit screwed when it comes to being practical, genetically speaking at least. Lily and he used to spend a lot of time studying on the roofs of random buildings because it was more inspiring. Well, he says studying but they tended to get a little, distracted. They almost fell off more than once but between her magic and his genius, they always came out relatively unscathed. What the hell is he going to do if Harry decides to ‘study’ with somebody on roofs?

He doesn’t dwell too much on that horrifying thought because Wanda is lighting up the room. Harry seems enamoured with the bright bursts of red light. The magic seems to gravitate towards him. Tony wishes Lily was here. He thinks her and Wanda would have gotten along famously. Together with Pepper and Nat, they would have been scarily brilliant together. Tony knows a ridiculous amount of scary redheads.

For now, Harry is smiling shyly as Wanda lifts him off the floor and Thor laughs heartily as he conjures a bolt of lightning. Thor doesn’t say it, but you can tell he misses having Loki to share his magic with. Tony doesn’t really know how to feel about Loki’s death. He’s starting to realise that death is very rarely a good thing, despite what he may feel towards a person. Death never really leaves the people around it. He’s glad that Thor can find solace in Wanda. That’s really what the point of this facility is. To find solace in each other.

So far things are getting better but it's slow going. He’s not sure how Harry and he will fit into this picture. Or what he’s going to do about the Peter problem. He’s terrified this kid is going to do something stupid in his name, but he doesn’t know how to help him properly. He should maybe talk to the kid’s Aunt but he’s familiar with how the teenage boy reacts to authority and he doesn’t know if that would be productive.

He supposes these worries can wait till at least the afternoon. For now, he refuses to be upstaged.

The way Harry’s jaw drops when he calls the suit to him is incredibly satisfying. He’s instantly addicted to the way Harry looks at him like he’s the centre of the world. He ignores the uncomfortable tightening in his gut when he remembers all the things he’s done that should mean he doesn’t deserve this. He can’t go back in time. He just had to keep moving forward.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Hope you enjoyed the update would love to hear if you guys had any ideas about what you want to see in the story. Specifically, what is your favourite things about Peter as a character and what you want to see most in his relationship with Harry. If there’s anything from the comics or just that you really love to see in the characters that you want me to include give me a shout and I’ll try my best, (links to the comic would be super helpful)  
> How much of the Avengers do you guys want to see because a common problem with fics this complicated is they tend to drag a little so please tell me if you think I’m spending too long on any one aspect there are a lot of things to balance here I would appreciate any kind of feedback. The positive is fantastic and keep me going on the criticisms improve my writing so anything you feel I would be forever grateful if you commented.  
> Also, don’t worry Peter will be here soon. the timeline just ended up being a little awkward.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys, sorry about the long wait.  
> There are so many logistics with this fic. I kept getting side tracked trying to research the timeline and backstory of all characters. I have decided that because marvel themselves have said they're more focused on the story than timeline (hence why some films have dodgy timelines) I'm going to follow their lead. There's like a vague timeline that sort of works but if I was going to fully flesh it out it would take ten billion years I would be bored to tears and this fic would never get written.
> 
> Apologies to the detail orientated readers of this fic. Feel free to complain in the comments/ give me advice on how to fix it and I'll do my best.

Harry was a little overwhelmed. He came to America trying his best not to expect much. He told himself he would be okay if there was a roof over his head and nobody lamenting his existence. He didn’t expect this. He thought he’d be surrounded by muggles and that it would be no trouble to pretending to fit in. Instead he’s in a building as lavish as Hogwarts, if a different kind of extravagant, surrounded by the kind of people that Aunt Petunia would shriek at. It’s been kind of wonderful.

He thinks Hermione would have a literal aneurysm if she found out he met Thor. He wishes he could share this with her but right now heir oceans apart and he can’t let the British ministry get wind of where he is before he endears himself properly to MACUSA.

He’s a little worried that Wanda might be able to tell he’s not quite normal himself, but she doesn’t seem like the malicious type. He thinks that he can trust her to keep it to herself and maybe she can’t tell because her magic is so different from his own. He didn’t know that there were so many ways in which somebody could be different.

He also doesn’t feel too comfortable asking these people for any more than they’ve given him. They’re all so generous. Clint seemed put off by Harry’s presence and he hadn’t complained once. Harry’s sorry that he put them out so much but he’s very relieved that they’ve all been so kind.

Tony seems to have stumbled upon some very wonderful people. Pepper especially had been very understanding. Vernon had resented petunia for being related to harry and she hadn’t even had a choice in the matter, but Pepper hadn’t even seemed too put out. He supposes he might make less of an impact on these people, they seem to have so much of everything that Harry could live comfortably without out them even noticing his existence.

He’s so relieved. Except he doesn’t really know how to make himself useful. He’s always been good at making himself valuable to people, it seems to be the only way to inspire continued tolerance. These people don’t really seem to need him, that’s okay, he can learn to be useful.

 

Also, Tony is like the muggle equivalent of a wizard. It’s kind of amazing and terrifying at the same time. He hopes tony isn’t disappointed at Harry’s extremely limited knowledge of anything technology and math. The Biology kept Harry engaged because even at a simple level it was challenging and interesting. Math struggled to keep his interest because 2+2 doesn’t really mean much by itself. Only the complex stuff is applicable to life, like yes adding galleons is helpful but there are spells for that, and Harry found himself frustrated constantly when he got the theory but tripped up on simple division. Hermione told him it would just take time, but Harry hated the way it made him feel.

Maybe Tony will want to teach him. There are so many intelligent people in this building he hopes one of them has the time to teach him.

After breakfast they had spent some time showing off. Harry kind of loves how excited they are to show off their powers. The way Wanda lights up with her magic makes Harry want to practice his own. He can feel the magic under his skin and it makes him want to conjure his Patronus. He can’t share that with these people though. His magic is different to theirs. It’s the kind that can swallow the potential of seventeen-year-old boys and shatter the families of infants.

It’s the kind that isn’t easily loved and isn’t easily shared. That should be practiced with caution and that Harry has learnt to be wary of.

Hermione has always said she loves magic. Loved the power that it gives her and the people around her, but she hasn’t been hurt by it the way Harry has.

Harry still keeps his wand close and he hopes desperately that Ron is looking after Hedwig so Harry guesses his feelings are complicated.

Harry notices Bruce watching the others forlornly and wonders what his deal is. Natasha makes her way over to him and tries to start a conversation. The dude seems conflicted for a few second before shaking his head and leaving the room. In the hour that Harry has known Natasha she hasn’t expressed any strong emotion barring hunger, currently she looks overcome with grief. The look passes after a second, but Harry knows emotion like that tend to linger.

Natasha slips out of the room and it’s like the flood gates are open.

JARVIS announces that Tony is needed elsewhere, and he smiles apologetically before shrugging off his suit and leaving. Followed by Thor and two other men that Harry hasn’t been introduced to. Steve apologises before departing as well with Vision in tow.

Apparently superhumans are busy. Wanda and Pepper are the only people left in the room. Wanda grins, “all the people here are always caught up in something, but I prefer to live life a little more, freely.”

Pepper rolls her eyes, “It’s called having a job Wanda.”  
Wanda grins, “I’m an artist my job involves having the most fun as possible, how else would I have something to paint?”

Again, Pepper rolls her eyes, “I don’t suppose you paint much Harry?”

Harry shrugs a little, ”I struggle to draw straight lines even with rulers, painting is a little, out of my depth.”

Pepper and Wanda grin at this. “We love a hopeless case here at the Avengers facility. Don’t worry we’ll make an artist of you yet.”

Wanda turns to Pepper, “Say, does being Stark’s kid give Harry access to the Stark fortune? Because this kid could use a change in wardrobe.”

Harry winces a little at this. Technically he has the funds to buy himself new clothes but if he explains that then he’ll have to explain the complex reasons as to why he hasn’t already.

‘You know somehow I doubt giving a fourteen-year-old access to that kind of money is a good plan,” Wanda face falls a little at this, but Pepper quickly cuts her off, “I, on the other hand am not 14 years old enjoy and have just enough time for a little shopping spree.”

Wanda grins, “what do you say mini Stark? Up for a little adventure.

Merlin that’s weird. Mini Stark. He wonders if he’ll ever think of himself as anything but a Potter. He wonders if he’ll have to.

Harry has never been shopping before, so he shrugs and agrees. They’re picked up by a guy called Happy. He seems a little harried. He takes one look at Harry before dramatically running his hand through his hair, “Kid if you’re anything like Peter Parker I swear to god I’ll tape you’re mouth shut.”

Harry doesn’t know who this Peter kid is but by the sounds of it he’d get along great with Fred and George. He’s glad that for once he’s not the most troublesome person in the room.

The shopping trip is a weird experience. Harry’s never been shopping in a muggle complex before. Never bought clothes for himself that weren’t robes magically fitted for him. It’s weird having tops that hang a little loose but don’t drown him. Trying on clothes is a bit of a nightmare. He’s never done it before. He doesn’t know whether he’s supposed to take his top off before he puts the other one on, isn’t that unhygienic? What if he rips it?

Wanda and Pepper are patient. Patient in a way that almost brings Harry to tears.

Hermione’s been getting more patient with him, but Harry know he still frustrates her. They’ll get to math problems and she’ll explain it in ten different ways and he’ll understand it for a second but trying to hold onto that understanding is like trying to hold onto silt. When he’s learning something knew it’s like the information slips through his fingers faster than he can keep up with. After a while Hermione will become impatient, border on belligerence and then they know if they don’t stop they’ll end up frustrating each other so much they won’t be able to learn for days.

Learning for Harry was a very slow process, but neither Pepper nor Wanda get frustrated with him.

There was point in the trip when Wanda burst into his change room and Harry freaked because he thought he’d somehow taken an especially long time in the change room and was about to get, well now that he thinks about he isn’t sure what he expected. He has no idea what Wanda would be like angry beyond the fact that hitting people with frypans doesn’t really seem her style.

He almost ripped a top in his haste to get it over his head, but Wanda had just laughed, ‘slow down there’s no rush.” It makes Harry feel embarrassed about how hard he flinched when Wanda walked into the change room. She’d apologised, “sorry, Pietro used to be hopeless with clothes, I’m so used to wandering into change rooms and helping him with a crisis I didn’t even think.”

Once Harry had gotten past the initial shock he found he hadn’t minded too much. The change room was big, big enough that when Pepper walked in it wasn’t too crowded. Neither women stared too long and or pushed to hard. They just helped. Gave their opinions when Harry asked, most of what they said made no sense to Harry but usually Wanda and Pepper came to a consensus of positive or negative which Harry appreciated because the only criteria he had previously used to pick clothes was which top was the least ripped.

They even turned around when he was changing without prompting, Harry had needed to get comfortable with his body quickly in the quidditch change rooms, but he thinks having two people stare directly at him whilst he changed would have been a little much. They bought a few shirts and pants and then left. Pepper offered to check out a few other stores but when Harry didn’t look interested, she shrugged and said they could come back another day if he ran out of clothes.

Wanda had agreed easily before slipping fluidly into a conversation with Pepper about where they should buy lunch.

It blows Harry’s mind that any three people other than the Weasley’s can spend so much time together without somebody getting angry, Ron and Hermione would’ve devolved into bickering on the car ride over. Wanda whines a little when she discovers the promotion, she liked at some sandwich store has ended but Pepper recommends they share some Malaysian food at her favourite store.

“Well,’ Pepper had amended “they say Malaysian, but the food isn’t anything like the traditional food Tony and I are served when we visit. I have a friend who works on a conservation island, gorgeous place we’ll take you one time if we get the chance, they have chicken and rice breakfast lunch and dinner unless they’re eating western. Anyway, that’s beside the point. Once we took a boat off the island to a restaurant and they had ‘mild’ tandoori chicken and I swear it almost burnt my mouth off. ‘the food here is really nice, but it isn’t nearly as intense as the real stuff. I haven’t exactly tasted every dish in Malaysia This stuff could still be authentic.”

She tells him he can order whatever or they can just share. He doesn’t know what half the things on the menu are., so he opts to let her choose. Harry doesn’t know how anybody in the muggle world ever makes decisions.

They share some rice and curry. None of the food is anything like what he’s used to. The flavours are way more intense, he can understand why Pepper would feel like her mouth was going to burn off. They don’t finish either dish. Between the three of them Wanda eats the most, but she ordered her own spring rolls and some weird soupy thing that Harry doesn’t know the name of. She used these weird sticks to pull yellow lumps out of a bowl. Pepper had laughed when Harry wrinkled his nose. ‘Tony isn’t the biggest fan of Wanton soup either, He’s hopeless with chopsticks too. If you’re finished Harry we’ll bring this to Tony, fried rice is his favourite.”

Harry finds the whole experience bewildering. Pepper and Wanda work around each other like it’s the easiest thing in the world. Nobody gets angry or frustrated. Harry hasn’t been yelled at or anything.

Maybe this is was what Hermione meant when she said she was excited to go to France with her family.

 

Happy takes them home. As soon as they get in the door Wanda disappears saying she feels ‘inspired,” and Pepper leaves because ‘If I leave Tony alone any longer he’ll probably cause a fire, god knows by now he’s probably drained all the fire hydrants in the building.”

“He actually did that once,” Happy informs Harry, “Of course in this complex it’s kind of impossible but according to Rhodey, when they were in university Tony once burned down half a building because he set so many fires in the lab that he ran out of foam. That’s Tony for you, always keeping you on your toes.”

Harry remembers once he accidently set a fire in the kitchen at the Dursleys. He’d been young and blinded by panic, so he’d tried to put it out with his hands. Thank merlin for accidental magic or else the scars would have been, well Harry doesn’t want to think about what they would have been. He can feel the heat searing through his fingers just thinking about it.

“That sounds horrific.” Harry says with venom. Then, because the way Happy seems amused makes his skin crawl, Harry makes his exit quickly.

As much as Harry had healed from the burns it hadn’t been instantaneous. The thing that stuck with Harry the most was the way Dudley had laughed whilst Harry screamed.

 

He spends a long time trying to figure out the elevator before he gives up and asks Jarvis. Jarvis is irritatingly willing to help, Harry just wants to be not in an elevator, he doesn’t need an entire catalogue of everything on every floor that might take his interest. Then Harry picks a floor and Jarvis ignores him anyway. The elevator just kept going and going, for a solid seventy floors. Jarvis just took him to the floor with Harry’s room, so the endeavour was useless. Harry said as much, he figured he already pissed off a human what’s pissing off a robot going to do?

“Jarvis you’re nattering is annoying the shit out of me.”

“Thank you, sir, it feels good to accomplish something.”

Harry wanted to stab himself in the eye.

 

Now that he’s here and abandoned by all adult supervision he finds himself at a loss of what he’s supposed to do. There aren’t any established rules. Harry isn’t even sure what he’s _allowed_ to do.

He feels so restless he could climb a wall. Briefly he considers the merit of legitimately climbing a wall. He could probably manage it with a few spells, it wouldn’t be that hard. However before Harry has a chance to let the thought eventuate Steve rogers turns up.

“Hey, kid.” He greets casually slipping his hands in the pockets of his loose hanging cargo jeans.

Harry is so on edge he almost jumps a foot in the air at the sound of his voice. “uh, hey.”

“Happy tells us pulled a bit of a disappearing act.”

Harry pulls a face at this. How the fuck did this dude find out so quickly. Are they keeping constant tabs on him? Also, what up with the ‘you pulled a disappearing act’ like he had any obligation to stay.

Steve huffs lightly, feature drawing into an amused grin. “Relax kid, you’re not in trouble we’re all aware that Happy can be a bit intense sometimes.”

Harry shrugs. He’s not sure how to respond to that.

Steve runs his hand through his hair awkwardly. “Listen kid, I’ve been sent to entertain you” Harry and Steve both wince a little at the phrasing, “Sorry, I mean I volunteered to hang with you to get out of the boring ass meeting I was just stuck in, but I actually have no idea what to do.”

Harry shrugs again. He doesn’t really know what to with spare time either. He’s used to homework chores and quidditch. None of these things seem like viable options unless the captain has a hidden penchant for cleaning.

 

“I’m trying to think about what I did as a kid, but mostly I remember sleeping a lot or picking fights that I was never going to win.” he grimaces a bit at the phrase and his eyes go a little misty, presumably with nostalgia.

Harry shrugs again. He doesn’t know how to help this guy. He’s trying very hard to ignore the resemblance he has with Gilderoy Lockhart and to supress the imagine of Hermione’s reaction to his, objectively good looks.

“Well, I guess sleeping isn’t really an option, although what’s the time difference like in England? Sure, you don’t want a nap?’

The time difference in England is about 5 hours. Theoretically it’s like 9pm in England right now and Harry could probably sleep if he tried hard enough. However, hours of staring at a wall a pretending to meditate in order to sleep only to be woken up by nightmares seems like a lot of effort for not much reward.

Harry shrugs.

Steve shifts from side to side. “you’re not really giving me much to work with here.

Harry resits the urge to shrug again. He’s worried he might be shattering this guy’s self esteem.

Steve sighs deeply. “well if sleeping isn’t, an option fighting it is.”

Suddenly Harry is acutely aware of just how small he is in comparison to Steve’s broad form. Harry’s heart thuds heavily in his chest and he takes a shocked step back.

“Shit kid I didn’t mean it like that.” He puts his hands out flat and placatingly. “I meant teach you how to fight with a punching bag, not-,” he takes a deep breath, “nobody here is going to hurt you.”

Harry’s eyes widen, and he takes a beat to breath and process the words. Teach him how to fight. With a punching bag. He takes a deep shuddering breath. Not him as the punching bag.

“listen, “Harry winces a little at the noise, he feels a too overwrought to process sounds right now. “If you don’t want to-“

Harry shakes his head. He’s warming to the idea now. He can picture throwing a punch in his head, exerting the restless energy that’s building under his skin. “No that sounds really good. Please.” Please, please, please.

Steve drags his eyes over Harry slowly before smiling decisively with and using his head to gesture towards the elevator. As Harry trails eagerly behind Steve he briefly wonders what about his clenched jaw and restless twitching had caused Steve to smile.

Jarvis is silent when they enter the elevator and Steve chooses a floor. In the silence Harry notices, he starts to feel heavy as the elevator rises. The weighted feeling him of taking off at the start of a quidditch game. He wonders where the sudden heaviness comes from. If Hermione was here, he’s sure she would be able to tell him. Ron would probably tell him he ate too many sausages at breakfast.

He follows Steve out of a lift to a brightly lit corridor and over an insane glass bridge. The bridge connects the two different buildings of the avenger’s complex. Harry hadn’t taken much note of the second building upon his arrival but now he’s suddenly dying to know what’s in it.

Something he loves about this place is the ridiculous number of windows. The sun that filters in makes Harry feel lighter. He crosses the bridge a little slower than necessary, so he can enjoy the warmth that settles under his skin.

 

By the time they make it to the gym some of the oppressive restlessness that was plaguing Harry has lifted. He takes some time to breath and drink in the expansive gym. There’s a few heavy duty punching bags in the corner, some targets with knives and arrows next to them but apart from that thy ‘gym’ has a lot of empty space. The floor is lined with some sort of blue matting, presumably to prevent bruising.

Harry’s attention is drawn to the back of the room where Steve is fiddling around near the punching bags. When Steve had suggested fighting Harry had been to grateful to be doing something, anything to consider what that entailed. Now that he’s here though he’s suddenly simultaneously bouncing with nerves and anticipation.

Eventually Steve straightens with a set of gloves under each hand. Harry’s only seen boxing gloves briefly, one of the numerous gifts Dudley received and never touched. He’s kind of excited to get started.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also guys because there is sooo much in the way of marvel universe and character backstories rather than including everything I'm just going to stick in what is the most interesting/any requests I get.
> 
>  
> 
> Also this chapter is kind of a filler. Sorry. Hope you enjoy the bonding though.


	4. Nightmares and labs

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! Sorry for the long wait life is hectic, this fic will continue to be slow to update (sorry) but I promise to try my hardest to keep it going.   
> Thank you so much to everybody who commented, it really meant a lot and kept me going. I'll start going through replies soon.   
> Hope you enjoy the chapter, it picks up where the last one left off, (Harry having a self defense class with Steve after staying at the avengers precinct for a couple days.

The self-defence training was underwhelming. Not terrible- Harry didn’t think it was a waste of time or anything- just the pace was frustratingly slow. They went through things like proper stance, how to throw a punch. He found it disconcerting that Steve corrected his technique for throwing a punch when he didn’t even realize that you could punch wrong.   
In the end, the most satisfying part of the whole Endeavor was the initial warm up. It was just a run, but it was long, fast, and Harry appreciated the monotony of it. The blood pumping through his veins was good for the restlessness that had been building in his chest since the start of summer.   
Steve was highly complementary, but Harry thinks he might be incapable of anything but.   
“How did you find that Harry?’ Steve asks with a sunny grin on the way back to their corner of the tower.  
Bitterly, Harry notices that despite his shirt being soaked through with sweat, Steve seems to be completely dry.  
Despite his exhaustion, Harry manages a small grin in return. ‘Good.” Then, as an afterthought, “thank you.”  
Somehow, Steve’s smile brightens at that and Harry’s breath catches in his throat.   
He fiddles with the hem of his shirt before asking, “Do you think we could do it again sometime?’  
Steve smiles again, “Sure kid, not sure how regularly I’ll be available but between all of us I’m sure we can find some time to help you.”  
“Thanks,” Harry says quietly.

\---

Harry spends the day’s last few hours of sunlight helping Clint cook. Apparently, the cooking skills of the Avengers were very limited. Clint knew how to cook because he had to feed his kids, Steve knew how to cook because he helped his family when he used to be a lonely bean pole and Pepper knew how to cook because she was, ‘a basically fully functioning human being, unlike this sad lot.’   
The three apparently took it in turns. Pepper tells him all this whilst happily watching Clint and Harry work without lifting a finger. Sometimes Nat cooked but she only made two dishes, so they only annoyed her once her twice a month, not wanting to endure her wrath for such little reward.   
Mostly Clint just told him to listen for the oven ding and to use the silicon mitts to take out the tray, but he also let Harry help marinade the chicken and chop up some parsley. Harry thought this was a gross underutilisation of his skills, but it was somewhat of a novelty for him to be allowed to use actual spices, so the cooking experience was enjoyable overall.   
He eagerly offers his service for tomorrow night. At this, Pepper squints suspiciously at him, ‘you’re not trying to poison us are you kid?”   
Harry shrugs non-comitally and tries not to get too ahead of himself imagining playing with all the fancy appliances and somewhat exorbitant three ovens and two sinks.

They just finish plating everything up before people start filtering in.   
Harry resists the urge to ask what happens when Jarvis eats, despite his curiosity and being somewhat wigged out.   
The urge is easier to resist than the disappointed sigh that builds in his chest the longer dinner drags on and Tony doesn’t materialise.  
That night, after the Avengers have all disappeared to fulfil their more important obligations, Harry puts himself to bed.

His heart is heavy with loneliness and he wishes Ron was here if only so his snoring could fill the unquiet darkness of the room.

\---

Tony doesn't know what possessed him. He had woken up in the middle of the night with his legs moving before his brain had woken up. Something had been wrong; something had felt wrong.   
Now here he is. In the doorway of a bedroom that he'd initially stuck in just because.

In the doorway of a bedroom that now holds his son.   
  
When Tony woke up tod- he glances at the clock on Harry's desk that reads 1:00 am- no yesterday. When Tony woke up yesterday, just for a second, he forgot he had a son.  
  
For a moment of sleep filled forgetfulness, he was once again adrift in this world, bereft of any concrete responsibility.   
  
Now standing in the doorway, watching with mounting distress as Harry twists aggressively in his bedcovers- positively radiating distress, he finds himself astounded that he could forget something so monumental.   
  
He slowly shuffles into the room as Harry yet again twists, this time wrenching his duvet with him.   
"Harry," the word hangs uselessly in the darkness as Tony makes his way towards the bed. He remembers reading something somewhere about not waking people from nightmares, but he also remembers how grateful he is every time Peppers pulls him out of his worst ones.   
  
He sits down beside Harry's restless form and idles uselessly for a few seconds.   
Then, Harry starts screaming. The sound is gut-wrenching.

Tony's heard this before, he's used to it from Steve and Nat, hell even Pepper hasn't managed to come out of their lives completely unscathed but shit, nothing could have prepared him for the sound coming out of his tiny son.   
  
Decision made he pulls Harry into his arms and strokes his finger through his hair. For a few seconds, Harry struggles with renewed vigour and Tony’s heart aches. Thankfully, he calms down before Tony has enough time to work himself into a frenzy.   
  
For a second Tony just sits there, chest heaving with anxiety, an armful of his son.

Slowly Harry slips into consciousness, snuffling and rubbing his eyes as he goes. Tony relaxes his grip so that he doesn't startle him. He raggedly drags his hands through his wild hair, accidentally knocking elbows with Tony.  
  
As Tony jumps backwards from impact, Harry's eyes pop open, glowing faintly in the pale green light of his alarm clock. He blinks owlishly at Tony for a few seconds, as his mouth slowly falls open.   
  
Tony grin a weakly at the expression and mutter a faint 'hey, kid." It takes all his maturity to tamp down the litany of questions building in his throat.   
  
"uh-" even in the shadowy darkness of the night Tony can see Harry's sleep-addled brain working overtime to rouse itself. Tony bites down a petulant warning for Harry not to hurt himself.

“You feeling okay?”   
Harry stares dumbly at Tony for a few long minutes. What’s supposed to happen next is anyone’s guess. Tentatively, he lifts a hand to stroke the side of Harry’s face, when his fingers meat the downy mop of his hair and run down his sleep-warmed skin Harry goes rigid with what tony can only assume is discomfort. Hastily, he brings his hand back to his body and looks to Harry for any sort of cue for what’s supposed to happen next.   
“Um, sorry for the rude awakening?” He offers dubiously sticking out his hand to grope for something, presumably his glasses.   
‘don’t sweat it, stick around long enough and you’ll get plenty of rude awakenings.” The Conversation idles for a bit Harry peers curiously out of the darkness at Tony  
“You guys get them too?” Harry’s voice is so quiet Tony almost doesn’t hear him.   
Tony shifts so that he and Harry are side by side against the headboard.   
“Yeah kid, we get them too. The others might tell you about it sometime, but I’m sure you understand nobody’s favourite topic of conversation.” Tony nudges Harry lightly with his shoulder, “I forget that you don’t know who we are, we’ve all been involved in combat in some form or another, the kind you don’t really get passed, but for a lot of us it’s the stuff that came before that’s hardest to deal with. My worst dreams aren’t aliens in New York or even the stuff in Afghanistan, it’s waking up and expecting my parents to be there but finding they aren’t or waking hollow-chested, gasping without air. “

Harry reaches out and turns on the little light next to his bed. “there was a kid last year, two years above me, everybody thought he was going to be Head boy this year. There was, he was,” here, His face twists and he turns to me with glassy green eyes “I miss him.”

They sit together in the unquiet darkness for many seconds with words left unsaid. Tony reaches out and clasps Harry’s hand in his own, “that’s rough, kid. Sometimes, when I think of the people I lost, it helps me to remember them in a universe of their own, as if there will always be a version of me doing our favourite things together.”  
“Doesn’t that hurt? To imagine them somewhere unreachable?”

“No more than it hurts to imagine that they aren’t anywhere at all.”

Tony lingers in the room for a while before quietly retreating to his room. He’s greeted with the soft snores of a slumbering Pepper. As he slips into bed beside her his head is filled images of a version of himself, somewhere unreachable, introducing his parents to his son.

The next morning Tony sets some time aside to spend with his kid. He has an endless stream of things he needs to do. Spend more time with Pepper, check up on the other kid he’s managed to acquire, Show his face at stark industries, address the miasma that clings to the team, go with Steve to see Bucky, the list spreads endlessly in front of him but this morning he’s going to spend time with his kid.   
They start the morning with breakfast and that goes okay. Harry is basically non-verbal for the first hour but after he gets some food in his system the only thing that belies his restless sleep are faint smudges of violet under his arms.   
Tony decides to take Harry to his lab because the kid seemed pretty interested it on that first day. Jarvis greets them on the elevator ride down to the basement and the stink eye Harry sends him is the stuff of legends. Well, Tony says the stink eyes Harry sends Jarvis, but as Jarvis is shapeless mainframe it’s really the stink eye Harry sends the void.

\--

Harry has mixed feelings about last night’s events. On one hand, waking people up with his nightmares is one of his less endearing qualities, the kind that gets Dudley riled up enough to start throwing his weight around. On the other, Tony hadn’t seemed pissed off. In fact, last night Harry had his very first encounter with parental wisdom. Despite the sombre nature of what elicited said wisdom, Harry had felt something warm and delicate start spread in his chest.  
Conversely, maybe Tony might not be so amenable to late night bonding if it becomes a regular occurrence so he might need to like, sleep with a sock in his mouth? He imagines this for a second and screws up his face in distaste. Back to the drawing board.  
Just as he starts to contemplate the probability of learning how to cast a silencing charm, the elevator dings and he follows Tony to out to his ‘lab.’

Harry thinks that this ‘lab’ is something out of Arthur Weasley’s wet dreams. Robot arms, computers, holograms, if Harry wasn’t a wizard on during the school term, he might not believe his eyes.   
He turns to poke at a glass case filled with what Harry assumes is the suit Tony had on before. “you know from this angle the suit looks a bit like the tin man from wizard of OZ.”  
Harry says the statement speculatively, unthinkingly. It’s only in the second after he said it that he thinks to be wary of Tony’s reaction.   
He needn’t worry when he turns his head Tony’s face is doing the complicated twitchy thing of someone trying to appear angry whilst also suppressing a laugh. “I’ll have you know that suit strikes fear in the heart of millions’  
Harry grins a little “Tinman could’ve been your superhero name.’  
“whatever you do, don’t say that to Thor.”  
Harry’s grin widens. ‘Have you ever seen ‘The Cat in The Hat?”  
Tony’s eyes crinkle, “You mean the source of endless annoyance for my mother who endured hours of me reciting it?”  
Harry blinks, “you remember thing one and thing two?”

“Blue hair? Kind of wild?”  
Harry nods with a pleased smile “Remember how they responded to instruction?”  
Tony scratches his head “By doing the exact opposite of what they were-oh. No, please. That’s terrible behaviour.”  
Harry just grins and rocks back on his heels.  
Absently, He picks up a random red box off the desk and chucks it in the air.  
Tony snatches it out of the air preternaturally fast reflexes. “There is a thing called lab etiquette, you should exercise some.”  
Harry tilts his head to the side. “I’ve haven’t been in many labs before.” Well, potions labs but Tony probably wasn’t referring to them.

“well here’s lab etiquette 1-0-1, Lesson number one; don’t pick up random shit, especially in the kind of lab with stuff in it that could blow out half the country.”  
Harry inhales sharply and takes half a step back.  
Tony’s face breaks into a grin, “relax kid, no need to be so jumpy.”  
Harry swallows around a lump of fear that built in his throat. “This wouldn’t actually- “  
He shakes his head “no kid, that’s just a little something I work on when I’m bored.”  
“Isn’t this all just something you work on when you’re bored?”  
His grin widens, “I knew no kid of Lily’s could be polite.”

“Oh, so we’re blaming Lily for your bad genes?”   
Startled at the sudden intrusion, Harry whips around to face the lab’s entrance and is greeted by the sunny smile of Steve Rogers.  
“I think you mean brilliant genes, of course, I can understand that you feel intimidated by the bright you whippersnappers, old man.”  
“You need to stop, Tony.’  
“of course, you need your rest.”  
“charming”  
Harry ducks his head, amused.   
“so, what brings you to my humble abode?”  
“this isn’t you’re house tony. You have a room, that you share with your girlfriend. Look, I’m sorry Tony but we need to go.   
Tony’s face goes tight around the edges, “is it important we were kind of-’  
Captain America’s face goes tense,” I wouldn’t bother you if it wasn’t.”  
Harry’s throat goes tight. “It’s okay, I’m sure I’ll find someone to annoy.”  
“Actually, it’s all-hands-on-deck, you have the house all to yourself.”  
Tony’s face goes pensive, “you probably shouldn’t be on your own.”  
“There’s always Happy.” Steve’s shifts a little and eyes the door.  
Harry’s throat goes tight. “that’s really not- I can be home alone, I’ll be fine.”  
“Listen kid, go pack some things, maybe some pyjamas and a change of clothes. We’ll figure it out.’  
“Mr Stark, I really can stay on my own, I stayed in this hotel place last year for a couple of weeks because-, for reasons, and I was fine, and I go to a boarding school.”  
Steve eyes him warily, “how old are you again?”  
Harry clenches his jaw defiantly, “enough.”  
Tony’s face twitches inscrutably. “Go get your stuff.”  
Drawing his arms around himself, Harry exits the room to the sound of low murmuring.

Tony figures he can hit two birds with one stone, a babysitter for one kid and a chance to check up on the other. It isn’t until he’s already on the doorstep with a slightly petulant teenager at his side that he considers maybe it’s a little too soon to merge these aspects of his life.   
It’s doesn’t matter, regardless of the fallout everybody he trusts is involved with SHIELD in some shape or form. This is a last resort, an only resort.   
\--  
When Peter opens the door, he’s in his boxers and a grease-stained white tee. He looks like somebody caught mid-crime when he mumbles out a weak “Hi Mr stark?”   
The silence hangs between them for a few seconds before Peter’s shoulders slump. “Listen, I’m really sorry about the whole thing with the lake and the- but it’s really important and I know you want me to stop but I think I’m really onto-Whoa hi mini Mr Stark. I didn’t know you were investigating clone Mr Stark. Congrats though, you did a really good job. Well I mean it’s a little short and the eyes could use some work but otherwise-“

Tony pinches the bridge of his nose. “Peter, this is Harry, he gets his eyes from his mother. Harry this is Peter, nobody knows where he gets his Peterness.”  
They stare at each other dubiously for a second. Peter’s grin only loses a hint of sunshine, but Harry looks utterly bewildered.   
“Is your aunt May home, kid?” Tony asks.  
“wha—a? Oh yes, Aunt May’s here. At least I think she is. I’m not sure if she’s gotten-“  
“that’s great kid, You guys look out for each other, I’ve got to bounce.” He thrusts Harry at Peter and begins his way back to the car. “don’t get into too much trouble,” he hollers over his shoulder. “tell Aunt May dinner’s on Harry.” He makes sure to leave before he can think to much amount his decision making.

 

 


End file.
